1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an aerospace intelligent window system that includes performance data of one or more currently mounted windows in an aircraft (present performance data), and performance data of one or more previously mounted windows in the same aircraft and/or other aircrafts (past performance data) wherein the present and/or past performance data is used to determine life expectance of the one or more currently mounted windows.
2. Presently Available Technology
The present technology relating to sensors for aircraft windows, e.g. an aircraft windshield provides for mounting one or more sensors on an aircraft window and connecting the sensor output to a monitoring system mounted on the aircraft to provide instant performance data of selected properties or characteristics of the window. For a detailed discussion of sensors monitoring performance of selected properties and/or characteristics of aircraft windows reference is directed to U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2010/0163675 A1, and 2013/075,531A1. The sensors, e.g. an impact sensor, a rupture sensor, an arc sensor, a temperature sensor and/or a moisture sensor, mounted on the aircraft window provide information relating to the performance of the window to determine if the performance is operating within acceptable limits. When the window performance is outside of acceptable limits, the window is repaired or replaced, e.g. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,155,816 B2. U.S. Pat. No. 8,155,816 B2, and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2010/0183675 A1 and 2013/075,531A1 in their entirety are hereby incorporated by reference.
Although the present system to monitor performance of an aircraft window is acceptable, there are limitations. More particularly, one limitation of the presently available systems is that the data from the sensors provide information regarding actual performance of the aircraft window, e.g. but not limited to an aircraft windshield but little, if any, information regarding the useable life or life expectancy of the aircraft window. Another limitation of the present system is that the data is presented as information for each aircraft window as a separate unit, and the interaction between aircraft windows is not fully taken into account. As can now be appreciated by those skilled in the art, it would be advantageous to consider interconnect output of the sensors of aircraft windows mounted in the body of an airplane to form a network of windows. In this manner the performance of the network of windows can be monitored, and the present and past performance of the network of windows of the aircraft can be considered to determine useable life or life expectance of the windows of the network of windows and determine if the window failure is a result of the window construction or an indication that a portion of the aircraft body and/or the window mount surrounding the aircraft window is causing the window to perform outside of an acceptable range.